Table Of ContentLITERATURE, PRINT CULTURE, AND MEDIA
–
TECHNOLOGIES,
From telephones and transoceanic telegraphy to typewriters and
phonographs, the era of Bell and Edison brought an array of won-
drous new technologies for recording and communication. At the
same time, print was becoming a mass medium, as works from
newspapers to novels exploited new markets and innovations in
publishing to address expanded readerships. Amid the accelerated
movements of inventions and language, questions about media
change became a transatlantic topic, connecting writers from Whit-
man to Kipling, Mark Twain to Bram Stoker and Marie Corelli.
Media multiplicity seemed either to unite societies or bring division
and conflict, to emphasize the material nature of communication or
itstranscendentside,tohighlightdistinctionsbetweenmediaortolet
them be ignored. Literature, Print Culture, and Media Technologies,
–analyzesthisfermentasauthorssoughttounderstandthe
places of printed writing in the late nineteenth century’s emerging
media cultures.
isanassociateprofessorofEnglishattheUniversity
of Georgia. He is the author of Telegraphic Realism: Victorian Fiction
and Other Information Systems () and a three-time recipient of
essayprizesfromtheSocietyforLiterature,Science,andtheArts.
-
General Editor
Gillian Beer, University ofCambridge
Editorial Board
Isobel Armstrong, Birkbeck,University ofLondon
Kate Flint, University ofSouthern California
CatherineGallagher, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley
D.A. Miller,University ofCalifornia, Berkeley
J.Hillis Miller,University ofCalifornia, Irvine
Daniel Pick,Birkbeck,University ofLondon
MaryPoovey, New YorkUniversity
Sally Shuttleworth, University ofOxford
HerbertTucker,University ofVirginia
Nineteenth-century British literature and culture have been rich fields for inter-
disciplinary studies. Since the turn of the twentieth century, scholars and critics
have tracked the intersections and tensions between Victorian literature and the
visual arts, politics, social organization, economic life, technical innovations,
scientific thought – in short, culture in its broadest sense. In recent years,
theoretical challenges and historiographical shifts have unsettled theassumptions
ofpreviousscholarlysynthesisandcalledintoquestionthetermsofolderdebates.
Whereas thetendency inmuch past literary critical interpretation was touse the
metaphor of culture as ‘background’, feminist, Foucauldian, and other analyses
have employed more dynamic models that raise questions of power and of
circulation. Such developments have reanimated the field. This series aims to
accommodate and promote the most interesting work being undertaken on the
frontiersofthefieldofnineteenth-century literary studies: workwhichintersects
fruitfullywithotherfieldsofstudysuchashistory,orliterarytheory,orthehistory
of science.Comparative as well as interdisciplinaryapproaches are welcomed.
Acomplete list oftitlespublished will be found at the end ofthe book.
LITERATURE, PRINT
CULTURE, AND MEDIA
–
TECHNOLOGIES,
Many Inventions
RICHARD MENKE
UniversityofGeorgia
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©RichardMenke
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:Menke,Richard,author.
:Literature,printculture,andmediatechnologies,–:manyinventions/
RichardMenke.
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Series:Cambridgestudiesinnineteenth-centuryliteratureandculture|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
:|(hardback:alk.paper)|
::Printing–Socialaspects–History–thcentury.|Massmedia–Social
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Contents
List of Figures page vi
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction: Inventing Media and Their Meanings
A Message on All Channels: The Unification of Humanity
Fictions of the Victorian Telephone: The Medium Is the Media
New Media, New Journalism, New Grub Street: Unsanctified
Typography
The Sinking of the Triple-Decker: Format Wars
Writers of Books: The Unmediated Novel
Words Fail: Occulting Media into Information
A Connecticut Yankee’s Media Wars: Orality and Obliteracy
After Words: The End of the Book
Bibliography
Notes
Index
v
Figures
. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s phonautograph. Ganot,
Elementary Treatise on Physics (). Courtesy of University
of Georgia Libraries. page
. Scott, “No. – Au Clair de la Lune” (). Firstsounds.org.
. Telautograph receiver. William Maver, Jr., “Professor Gray’s
New Telautograph,” Engineering Magazine (), –.
Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
. Posting Garfield’s medical bulletins under the electric arc
lamps of Broadway. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
(September , ). Special Collections, University of
Virginia Library.
. Diagram of the induction balance and the other components
of Bell’s detector. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (August ,
). Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.
. Bell listens for the bullet. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
(August , ). Special Collections, University of Virginia
Library.
. Chart showing Garfield’s temperature, pulse, and respiration.
Ridpath, Life and Work of James A. Garfield (). Collection
of the author.
. Long-distance transmission without a telegraphic code:
handwritten Chinese via telautograph. William Maver, Jr.,
“Professor Gray’s New Telautograph,” Engineering Magazine
(), –. Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
. Mediating heterosexual connections: young women at the
switchboards. “The Telephone Exchange in London,”
The Graphic (September , ). Collection of the author.
. “A Few Incidents in Connection with Tit-Bits.”
Tit-Bits (). ©The British Library Board / The
Image Works.
vi
List of Figures vii
. “A Modern Correspondence Department” as media
system. Promotional postcard (). Courtesy of
Schreibmaschinenmuseum Peter Mitterhofer.
. Beard, “The stranger’s story.” Twain, A Connecticut Yankee.
Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
. Beard, “Beginnings of civilization.” Twain, A Connecticut
Yankee. Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
. Patent complexity: the Paige Compositor. U.S. Patent
, ().
. Little crudities of a mechanical sort. Twain, A Connecticut
Yankee. Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
. Robida, the author’s voice. Uzanne, “The End of Books,”
Scribner’s Magazine (August ). Courtesy of University
of Georgia Libraries.
. Mark Twain in Nikola Tesla’s laboratory. Century Magazine
(April ). Courtesy of University of Georgia Libraries.
Acknowledgments
Having written a book that tracks printed writing and media systems in
the late nineteenth century, I find it a particular pleasure to acknowledge
thesystemsofcollaborationandsupportthathavemadethisworkpossible
in the early twenty-first. Parts of this book began in a National Endow-
ment for the Humanities Summer Seminar with Katherine Hayles many
years ago; I’m thankful to Kate and my fellow seminarians for their
encouragement. That work also benefitted from fellowships from the
Provost’s Office and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the
University of Georgia (UGA), gratefully acknowledged here. My depart-
ment heads in the English Department – Doug Anderson, Mike Moran,
Jed Rasula, and Michelle Ballif – also supported my research; Jed even
helpedmerearrangemyteachingscheduleinordertocompleteafirstdraft
of the manuscript. This work has gained greatly from discussions with
current and former colleagues, including Kris Boudreau and Roxanne
Eberle, as well as from the intellectual conviviality provided by UGA’s
Colloquium for Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Literature.
I especially appreciate the feedback from a lively colloquium workshop
attended by Casie Legette, Tricia Lootens, Elizabeth Kraft, Chris Pizzino,
Teresa Saxton, Nancee Reeves, Sara Steger, and my late, dearly missed
colleague Christy Desmet. Thanks as well to Lindsey Harding and Eliza-
bethDavisfororganizingretreatsatwhichacademicwritingwasnurtured
and fed.
Ihave benefitted from thesupport of two writers’groups: whileRachel
Ablow, Danny Hack, Ivan Kreilkamp, and Rachel Teukolsky provided
camaraderie via shared drafts and critique, Eleanor Courtemanche, Brad
Deane, Deanna Kreisel, Scott MacKenzie, and Patricia Tilburg offered
dailyencouragementwithoutsharinganywritingatall.Itwasalsohelpful
toexchangeworkindividuallywithRachelTeukolsky,SusanZieger,Doug
Anderson, and Leslie Simon. This book reflects many conversations (in
person and online) about media with interlocutors such as Susan Zieger,
viii
